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2. ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOR
CHAPTER 9
FOUNDATIONS OF GROUP BEHAVIOR

3. Team Members
• Moazama Arooj
• Saim Tahir
• Arfa Wasif
• Raika Gull
• Aqsa Khaliq
• M Raza

4. Defining and Classifying Groups
• In organizational behavior, a group is two or more individuals, interacting
and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives.
Groups can be either formal or informal. A formal group is defined by the
organization’s structure, with designated work assignments and established tasks.
In formal groups, the behaviors team members should engage in are stipulated
by and directed toward organizational goals. The six members of an airline flight
crew are a formal group, for example. In contrast, an informal group is
neither formally structured nor organizationally determined. Informal groups in
the work environment meet the need for social contact. Three employees from
different departments who regularly have lunch or coffee together are an
informal group.

5. Social Identity
• People often feel strongly about their groups partly because, as research indicates,
shared experiences amplify our perception of events.1 Also, according to research in
Australia, sharing painful experiences, in particular, increases our felt bond and trust
with others.2 Why do people form groups, and why do they feel so strongly about
them? Consider the celebrations that follow when a sports team wins a national
championship. The winner’s supporters are elated, and sales of team-related shirts,
jackets, and hats skyrocket. Fans of the losing team feel dejected, even embarrassed.
Why? Even though fans have little to do with the actual performance of the sports
team, their self-image can be wrapped up in their identification with the group. Our
tendency to personally invest in the accomplishments of a group is the territory of
social identity theory.

6. Social Identity Theory
• Social identity theory proposes that people have emotional reactions to the
failure or success of their group because their self-esteem gets tied to whatever
happens to the group.3 When your group does well, you bask in reflected glory,
and your own self-esteem rises. When your group does poorly, you might feel
bad about yourself, or you might reject that part of your identity.
• Social identity theory Perspective that considers when and why individuals
consider themselves members of groups.

7. Ingroups and Outgroups
• Ingroup favoritism occurs when we see members of our group as better than
other people, and people not in our group as all the same.
• outgroup The inverse of an ingroup, which can mean everyone outside the
group, but more usually an identified other group.

8. Stages of group development
• Temporary groups with finite deadlines pass through a unique sequencing of
actions (or inaction): (1) Their first meeting sets the group’s direction, (2) the first
phase of group activity is one of inertia and thus slower progress, (3) a transition
takes place exactly when the group has used up half its allotted time, (4) this
transition initiates major changes, (5) a second phase of inertia follows the
transition, and (6) the group’s last meeting is characterized by markedly
accelerated activity.15 This pattern, called the punctuated-equilibrium model, is
shown in Exhibit 9-1.

10. Group property 1: Roles
• Workgroups shape members’ behavior, and they also help explain individual
behavior as well as the performance of the group itself. Some defining group
properties are roles, norms, status, size, cohesiveness, and diversity. We’ll discuss
each in the sections that follow. Let’s begin with the first group property, roles.
• Role A set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a
given position in a social unit.

11. Group property 2: Norms
• Did you ever notice that golfers don’t speak while their partners are putting? Why
not? The answer is norms. All groups have established norms—acceptable
standards of behavior shared by members that express what they ought and
ought not to do under certain circumstances.
• Rorms Acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the
group’s members.

12. Group property 3 : Status
• Status—a socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by
others—permeates every society. Even the smallest group will show differences in
member status over time. Status is a significant motivator and has major
behavioral consequences when individuals perceive a disparity between what
they believe their status is and what others perceive it to be.
• status A socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by
others

13. Group property 4 : Size
• Does the size of a group affect the group’s overall behavior? Yes, but the effect
depends on what dependent variables we examine. Groups with a dozen or more
members are good for gaining diverse input. If the goal is fact-finding or idea-
generating, then, larger groups should be more effective. Smaller groups of about
seven members are better at doing something productive.

14. Group property 5 : Cohesiveness
• Groups differ in their cohesiveness—the degree to which members are attracted
to each other and motivated to stay in the group. Some workgroups are cohesive
because the members have spent a great deal of time together, the group’s small
size or purpose facilitates high interaction, or external threats have brought
members close together.
• Cohesiveness The degree to which group members are attracted to each other
and are motivated to stay in the group.

15. Group property 6 : Diversity
• The final property of groups we consider is diversity in the group’s membership,
or the degree to which members of the group are similar to, or different from,
one another. Overall, studies identify both costs and benefits from group
diversity.
• Diversity The extent to which members of a group are similar to, or different
from, one another

16. Group decision making
• The belief—characterized by juries—that two heads are better than one has long
been accepted as a basic component of the U.S. legal system and those of many
other countries. Many decisions in organizations are made by groups, teams, or
committees. We’ll discuss the advantages of group decision making, along with
the unique challenges group dynamics bring to the decision-making process.
Finally, we’ll offer some techniques for maximizing the group decisionmaking
opportunity

17. Groups versus the Individual
• Decision-making groups may be widely used in organizations, but are group
decisions preferable to those made by an individual alone? The answer depends
on a number of factors. Let’s begin by looking at the strengths and weaknesses of
group decision making
• Strengths of Group decision Making
• Weaknesses of Group decision Making
• effectiveness and efficiency

18. Group think and Group shift
• Two by-products of group decision making, groupthink and group shift, can
affect a group’s ability to appraise alternatives objectively and achieve high
quality solutions. Groupthink relates to norms and describes situations in
which group pressures for conformity deter the group from critically appraising
unusual, minority, or unpopular views. Groupthink attacks many groups and can
dramatically hinder their performance. Group shift describes the way group
members tend to exaggerate their initial positions when discussing a given set of
alternatives to arrive at a solution. In some situations, caution dominates and
there is a conservative shift, while in other situations groups tend toward a risky
shift. Let’s look at each phenomenon in detail.

19. Group decision-making techniques
• The most common form of group decision making takes place in interacting
groups. Members meet face to face and rely on both verbal and nonverbal
interaction to communicate.
• Interacting groups Typical groups in which members interact with each
other face to face.

20. Nominal group technique
• Nominal Group technique The nominal group technique may be more effective.
This technique restricts discussion and interpersonal communication during the
decision-making process. Group members are all physically present, as in a
traditional meeting, but they operate independently.
• Nominal group technique A group decision-making method in which
individual members meet face to face to pool their judgments in a systematic but
independent fashion.

21. Nominal group technique
• Specifically, a problem is presented and then the group takes the following steps:
• 1. Before any discussion takes place, each member independently writes
down ideas about the problem.
• 2. After this silent period, each member presents one idea to the group. No
discussion takes place until all ideas have been presented and recorded.
• 3. The group discusses the ideas for clarity and evaluates them.
• 4. Each group member silently and independently rank-orders the
ideas. The idea with the highest aggregate ranking determines the final decision.

22. SUMMARY
• We can draw several implications from our discussion of groups. First, norms control
behavior by establishing standards of right and wrong. Second, status inequities
create frustration and can adversely influence productivity and willingness to remain
with an organization. Third, the impact of size on a group’s performance depends
on the type of task. Fourth, cohesiveness may influence a group’s level of
productivity, depending on the group’s performance-related norms. Fifth, diversity
appears to have a mixed impact on group performance, with some studies suggesting
that diversity can help performance and others suggesting the opposite. Sixth, role
conflict is associated with job-induced tension and job dissatisfaction. Groups can be
carefully managed toward positive organizational outcomes and optimal decision-
making.